At a media briefing Friday afternoon, the Fresno County Department of Public Health officials said they had been informed by the state that three people had tested positive for the UK’s coronavirus variant, or “B1.7.” “It simply came to our notice then.
“In many ways, it’s like we’re back in the first few months of an epidemic,” said Fresno County Health Officer Dr. Rice Vohra said.
The health department’s contact tracers have already reached out to all those infected with the variant and are working to isolate those who have been exposed.
B.1.1.7 is one of the so-called “different types of anxiety” and has been found to be 40 to 80 percent more transmissible. It was first found in the United Kingdom where it spread rapidly and led to a significant increase in COVID-19 cases in the country.
“We don’t know if this is the dominant stress,” said Dr. Vora. “Certainly it’s a concern – if this becomes an impressive strain that will actually create a real retreat in terms of our ability to take care of people.”
Health officials said the coronavirus variant not only spreads more easily than others, but is also more deadly. They acknowledged that the three cases were probably “just the tip of the iceberg” and that there were many more cases of this type of covid case in Fresno County.
Dr. Vohra said case rates are going to go down, but he said they are now starting from plateau, on which he blames, in part, variables.
Health officials said vaccinations would help prevent further outbreaks, but they also told residents to continue to exercise caution.
“Don’t take your guard off. We’re still more ‘purple’ or widespread in Fresno County than the rest of the state. So, we still have a lot of infections. There are reports every day,” Vora said.
Research into how effective each vaccine is against the UK variant is still ongoing, but experts believe it helps protect all people from extreme illness.
County health officials say more than 320,000 vaccine doses have been given so far in Fresno County and 39,000 more doses are coming in next week.
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